Dancing the Spirit Back Into Parched Rivers

After a decade-long drought, Aboriginal elders travel the length of Australia's Murray-Darling Basin performing the Ringbalin—a pilgrimage designed to 'dance' the spirit back into the land and heal the rivers. And it appears to work.

Dancing the Spirit Back Into Parched Rivers

After a decade-long drought, Aboriginal elders travel the length of Australia's Murray-Darling Basin performing the Ringbalin—a pilgrimage designed to 'dance' the spirit back into the land and heal the rivers. And it appears to work.

SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA, 2010. THE COUNTRY'S GREATEST RIVER BASIN, THE MURRAY-DARLING, IS DYING JUST 200 YEARS AFTER EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT.

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, ALONG WITH WATER-GREEDY CROPS HAVE DRAINED THE BASIN. LAGOONS, WETLANDS AND FORESTS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED. A PERMANENT DREDGE WORKS JUST TO KEEP THE MURRAY RIVER'S MOUTH OPEN.

IN THE MIDST OF THE WORST DROUGHT IN HISTORY AN ABORIGINAL GROUP DECIDES IT CAN WAIT NO LONGER.

Major Sumner, Ngarrindjeri Elder: "It makes you feel sorry, the state of the river. Seeing it like it is makes us feel sick. It makes us feel bad inside."

LED BY MAJOR SUMNER, ELDER OF THE NGARRINDJERI PEOPLE, A UNITED GROUP OF ABORIGINAL NATIONS IS SPENDING NEARLY TWO WEEKS TRAVELING THE LENGTH OF THE DARLING AND MURRAY RIVERS.

Major Sumner, Ngarrindjeri Elder: "It is a thing that has been going for 1000s and 1000s of years, where our prople came and visited with each other. They visited and they traded but they also danced and sang songs about the creation of this country."

BUT THIS TIME THE GATHERING IS A BIT MORE URGENT. EACH NIGHT THEY PERFORM THE MURRUNDI RUWE PANGARI RINGBALIN. TRANSLATED LITERALLY - "RIVER COUNTRY SPIRIT CEREMONY."

THEY HOPE TO DANCE THE SPIRIT BACK INTO THE LAND, TO HEAL THE WATERS AND THE PEOPLE.

Cheryl Buchanan, Kooma Elder: "I think the idea of healing the river and the spirit of the river is not a new one. It is something that was done traditionally. We are water people, we are river people and when we have water we just embrace it. We embrace it because it is who we are. It makes everything. It makes us who we are."

AS THE DRIEST INHABITED CONTINENT, AUSTRALIA'S ALWAYS HAD ITS SHARE OF WATER CHALLENGES. THE MURRAY-DARLING BASIN IS SOUTHEAST AUSTRALIA'S LIFELINE. THE BASIN GENERATES 39 PERCENT OF THE NATION'S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION INCOME.

THE PRECIOUS WATER IS ALSO HARNESSED FOR ENERGY PRODUCTION AND FOR CITIES AND TRIBAL COMMUNITIES ALIKE.

EACH NIGHT AREA LEADERS PERFORM PARTS OF THE RAINBOW SERPENT CREATION STORY AT SACRED PLACES ALONG THE RIVER.

AND IT PAYS OFF - TOO MUCH - WITH THE LARGEST FLOOD SURGE IN 100 YEARS.

FOR SOME, THE DROUGHT MERELY EXPOSED THE WOUNDS OF THE CRITICALLY ILL WATERSHED.

EVEN THOUGH THE RAINS HAVE RETURNED THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT IS FORGING AHEAD WITH A COURAGEOUS UNDERTAKING: ASKING FARMERS AND COMMUNITIES TO ADAPT TO A THIRSTY FUTURE IN ORDER TO RESTORE FAILING RIVERS, LAKES AND WETLANDS.

CRAIG KNOWLES IS HEADING UP THIS TRICKY BUT VITAL INITIATIVE.

Craig Knowles, Murray Darling Basin Authority: "There's been some terrific work done to try and build a cohesive framework for the management of an entire river and basin system that is a bit bigger than the combined area of Germany and France."

AND IT'S PUT A LOT OF FOLKS ON EDGE.

Craig Knowles, Murray-Darling Basin Authority: "Very often you get diametrically opposed views. Everyone feels as though they are right.I argue that you can't have a healthy economic and social base in the basin without a healthy environment and we see them as necessary to work together."

MAJOR SUMNER AND CHERYL BUCHANAN ARE ON THE MOVE AGAIN. SUPPORTED BY THE MURRAY-DARLING BASIN AUTHORITY, THIS YEAR'S RINGBALIN CULMINATES WITH A CEREMONY AT THE COORONG, A UNIQUE ESTUARY.

Major Sumner, Ngarrindjeri Elder: "It's a part of who I am. It's a part of my life. It's a part of my parents' life. When I grew up, when people got sick, they'd bring them to the Coorong, and bathe them in the water. Because to the Ngarrindjeri the Coroong was a healing."

Craig Knowles, Murray Darling Basin Authority: "Understanding the landscape has a spiritual element but it also has a very practical element. These indigenous communities have a lot to teach us and we have a lot to learn."

AT THE MOUTH OF THE MURRAY RIVER THERE'S PLENTY TO CHEER ABOUT. IN 2010, THERE WAS NO WATER HERE.

Cheryl Buchanan, Kooma Elder: "Well, you know, what can you say? It's just magnificent. And you look at the country and you go....It's just this freshness and thisintensity about it now it's just amazing. It's like the trees and everything was just more alive and they've got their youth back again, you know."

Major Sumner, Ngarrindjeri Elder I feel that the people that's been controlling everything for the last couple 100 years. They need to step back and let us as aboriginal people from along that river, let us get it back to how it was. And let the river flow down."

Dancing the Spirit Back Into Parched Rivers

After a decade-long drought, Aboriginal elders travel the length of Australia's Murray-Darling Basin performing the Ringbalin—a pilgrimage designed to 'dance' the spirit back into the land and heal the rivers. And it appears to work.